


Ianto on Ianto

by KahtyaSofia



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Character Study, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-25
Updated: 2009-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 18:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KahtyaSofia/pseuds/KahtyaSofia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto knows EXACTLY what's up and wouldn't have it any other way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ianto on Ianto

**Author's Note:**

> ***Nothing new here, just taken off the website it was on and put on LJ.***Not beta'd as usual. All mistakes are mine. Had a thought one morning getting ready for work and my custom written torture fic just wouldn't let itself continue being written until this bit got vomited out. I so rarely write Ianto's POV, I just have to give it a shot once in a while.

Ianto took pride in the fact that no Yank would ever willingly do the job day after day that had become his sole purpose for living. They would view him as a servant, his duties demeaning. Even his own co-workers seemed to misunderstand his true function at Torchwood. It failed to bother Ianto all that much because Jack knew the truth. And it was for Jack that Ianto's most important functions existed.

As the son of a master tailor, Ianto grew up with an intimate understanding of the phrase 'the clothes make the man'. Again, the Yanks and their casual Friday concept and their 'dot com' informality had increased this need for constant connectivity in Ianto's view. If they would simply dress more professionally during working hours, they would work with more focus and efficiency and get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time. Instead, the blurred line between work and leisure caused the time spent on each to overlap. A sad state of affairs as far as Ianto was concerned.

One of Ianto's earliest memories was of his father fitting a suit for a rather important man about town. As the man stood before the three-way mirror in his slacks and shirt he appeared ordinary. As soon as Ianto's father slipped the suit jacket on to the man's shoulders and helped it settle so it hung properly he stood just a little taller and looked just a little more distinguished and important. It was an image that has stuck with Ianto to this day.

Sure, Ianto owned denims and jumpers. That clothing was for his personal time, what little there was of it. The more casual times with Jack outside the hub and running to Tesco's for groceries for his flat all qualified. Anything regarding Torchwood business and Ianto wore his suit. It was only right.

His suits were not so much his uniform as they were his armor. Not armor that he hid behind but armor that protected him while he strode forth to do his Captain's bidding and fight the good fight. His suits marked him as important, as formidable and as a professional.

It was a most definite side benefit that Jack liked the suits so much.

Captain Jack Harkness was the single most important duty Ianto had at Torchwood. No, not the 'servicing' of his Captain. Again, just a wonderful side benefit. In taking care of the day-to-day minutia of both Torchwood and Jack, Ianto ensured that his Captain was always able to focus the entirety of his attention and energy where it was needed.

The downside to this was that Ianto was almost never off duty. The rift never slept and alien threats didn't adhere to schedules (much to Ianto's everlasting frustration) so when Jack was off and running, Ianto was handing him his gun and holster then sliding his greatcoat up his arms to settle on his shoulders. Even when inside the Hub, Ianto saw to it that Jack ate when necessary, stayed hydrated and had clean clothes always at the ready. Right down to the marketing, Ianto saw to the details of Jack's life so that the Captain could remain focused and ready to act. It was simply too absurd to contemplate Jack on queue for his dry cleaning when a weevil sighting came in.

Many would view Ianto as nothing more than a valet. A noble profession to be sure but seeing to the comfort of a member of the idle rich fell far short of Ianto's contribution to Torchwood. A more accurate comparison would be that of an Officer's Aid in a branch of the Armed Forces. A troop Commander going into actual battle every few days must stay focused on his men's needs and the actual job of leading and commanding. He could not be expected to see to his own uniforms, meals and mobile sleep accommodations. Someone had to organize the paperwork to be signed, prioritize the phone messages and field the more trivial communications that didn't require command decisions. Ianto did these things for Jack and when his Captain stepped into battle, instead of remaining behind in the comfort of the manor house like the valet, Ianto ventured into the field of battle and the line of fire with his Captain.

Ianto helped Jack with more than just his practical needs, too. While it often looked like Ianto was simply hanging out in Jack's office while the rest of the team was working hard, he was indeed working just as hard as they. Perhaps harder. Jack Harkness was not an easy man to read and the others had it much easier being able to see their information and results displayed clearly on a screen before them. Ianto had to watch and listen and intuit and Jack gave nothing up easily.

If Jack was Torchwood's id, Gwen was the ego and Ianto the superego, working constantly to balance the two baser components. That often meant standing in the line of fire of Jack's temper and letting it burn itself out on him. Other times it meant reassuring his Captain the difficult choice he made had been the only one or the right one, often the two being the same. He acted as Jack's sounding board, voice of reason and comic relief. Sometimes Jack wasn't even aware of what it was he was even feeling until he'd unburdened himself to Ianto and then could clearly separate the real issues from the irrelevant. If all else failed, Ianto knew to just shut up and let Jack work through it on his own. Gwen was Jack's conscience but it was Ianto who helped Jack to listen when it was called for. Ianto acted as his Captain's ground wire, keeping all of Torchwood from going up in the flames of a Jack Harkness short circuit.

The team occasionally made comments that indicated they thought Jack took advantage of Ianto. During Jack's absence they had come to realize he was smart and capable and had many talents beyond mastery of the coffee maker. His resumption of his 'body squire' duties for Jack just after they stopped the Sleeper Agent threat had raised three sets of eyebrows, but Ianto didn't care. He'd had to, when he realized Jack was throwing out shirts instead of having them laundered and that he was showering two to three times more often than he had before his disappearance. Someone had to keep Jack in new, clean shirts and shower gel. Ianto was sure Jack didn't even know where the nearest Tesco's was.

Ianto's solution to Jack's dry skin issue from the excessive showering had turned out to be one of those unexpected side benefits. Fragrant body oils and a naked and relaxed Jack Harkness. Ianto had some strong opinions about that level of perfection.

He was fully aware that during their lighter moments they came off somewhat like an old married couple. Okay, if Ianto was honest they came off that way during some not so light moments, too. It was all a sign of comfort and familiarity with one another and that bothered Ianto not all.

Jack tossed things to Ianto to hold or dispose of, not because Jack couldn't do it himself but because he was letting Ianto know that he knew the younger man was there at all times. Jack had never told Ianto to help him with his greatcoat. Ianto had begun to do that because it hearkened back to the time spent in his father's haberdashery watching powerful men take up the mantels of their power with the donning of a jacket or a coat. In helping Jack with his coat, Ianto helped him transition from Jack Harkness to Captain Jack.

Their verbal banter had re-emerged after Ianto had taken Jack back fully around the time Tommy had been sent back to 1918. They'd made their peace with one another to Ianto's satisfaction and their comfort level with one another had become more than evident.

Ianto was sure that Jack had made it through the space whale incident due in large part to the pressure release valve provided by their verbal repartee. Much of their communication was even unspoken. As with most people who know one another very well, sometimes a question was asked with splayed palms upturned and answered from across the hub with a simple shrug. No one said more to one another with the raising of an eyebrow or two than did he and Jack.

Ianto saw the way Jack and Gwen would look at one another occasionally. Gwen's crush wasn't news to anyone, least of all Ianto. Jack's fear of loosing access to Gwen's passion and humanity as he had Rose's, his fear that Gwen's relationship with Rhys will force her to choose him over Torchwood and his honest love for each and every one of them had him watching her from time to time with longing. Jack envied her the 'normal' aspects of her life and the fact she was going to have the chance to grow old with her husband. Jack did his best to remind Gwen whenever he could that she had a good man in Rhys and that that was where all of her affections should be focused. Rhys loved his wife like a man should and Gwen should in return pay him the same respect.

It was Owen, though that Jack wasn't ready to loose. He had gone to extreme lengths (without consulting Ianto, no less) to bring him back to life. They were going to be facing the fall out from that for quite a long time to come.

Ianto sighed softly to himself as he stacked the dozens of new shirts he'd just picked up for Jack into the cupboard. He knew that someday, when there was no danger of messing with any timelines, Jack would tell him why he couldn't stand to wear sodden clothing any longer. Why the smallest drop of weevil phlegm on a shirt had Jack tossing it into the bin in favor of a brand new one made Ianto curious. He knew Jack well enough that he had asked only once then had never mentioned it again. Pushing Jack to share what he deemed un-shareable only ever pissed him off. Something Gwen couldn't seem to learn.

Next, Ianto stored away the bottles of shower gel he preferred to smell on Jack. His near compulsion to be clean had also arisen after his return so, like the shirts, Ianto had no idea why the new quirk had surfaced. In his darker moments he had to admit he didn't want to know.

Jack's voice sounded suddenly in Ianto's ear. He and Gwen were out weevil hunting and Tosh was handling a small cleanup operation stemming from an earlier weevil sighting. Jack needed Ianto to gather some information for him via the mainframe.

That too, was a new development since Jack's return. His newfound reliance on Ianto for weevil hunts; information gathering and distribution; and coordination and communication on field ops. More and more often Jack would send Ianto off with one or more of the other team for recon or some other action rather than keep him close. The lack of proximity was disappointing to be sure but the newfound faith Jack was exhibiting in his field skills was very heartening. During those times when Ianto was off working with one of the other team, Jack would use him as the communications conduit and Ianto was more than a little happy with this.

No, Ianto was so much more than a valet and Torchwood's Tea-boy. He knew it, Jack knew it and the team knew it. Inside the Hub, he would continue to be the silent strength at Jack's back, holding open the greatcoat so the Captain could go save the world at a dead run. Outside the Hub he would continue to live up to Jack's expectations of him, following his Captain into battle armed with little more than a stun gun and a smart suit.

What went on in the hothouse when he and Jack were alone was just nobody's business

(OK to convert and Kindle as long as header remains intact. Please comment if you do.)


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